Fernando Torres' signing has signalled Liverpool's intention by shattering the club's record transfer fee, and  now Rafa Benitez has spent £11.5m on Ryan Babel, the 20-year-old prospect from Holland. It shows the confidence that the American owners have in Benitez. They believe that he is truly the man to end the barren spell of league titles.

And with the recent arrivals of Yossi Benayoun and Andrei Voronin, fans may be left scratching their heads at team selection, because the players he has signed are so versatile. Torres is an out-and-out striker, but Voronin can play up front or on the wing. Benayoun can play anywhere behind the front two while Babel can play up front or on either wing. This season will be even more of a guessing game as to who starts, and where.

This versatility is an advantage that Benitez will use to great effect. It's a long time since Liverpool had the option of putting out a purely attacking team, one that could kill off the lesser teams and gain three points. Rafa now has the ammunition to deal with teams putting 11 men behind the ball, something that has caused us problems in previous seasons simply because we did not have enough attacking flair to break down these defences.

'It has been a long time coming, but at last we have the players and manager to mount a serious title challenge'


People may say that Manchester United are miles ahead with their early purchases of Nani and Anderson. But these are young players to replace the ageing Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, so it's not improvement, rather maintenance. The purchase of Owen Hargreaves is an attempt to replicate the Roy Keane role but, as most people know, the closest you can get to Keane in today's world football plays for their arch-rivals and is a better player than Keane could ever hope to be.

The season should be very interesting. Rafa has shocked us in the past with his team selections but with the choices he now has, you stand a better chance of winning the National Lottery than to pick his starting 11 in their correct positions.

It has been a long time coming, but at last we have the players and manager to mount a serious title challenge. Roll on the new season!